Month: November 2024

[Victoria, BC] Capital City Comic Con Is Sadly Not Continuing

When Capital City Comic Con shares its name with a fandom event in Michigan, that’s not the reason why it’s been cancelled.

Capital City Comic Con Thank You CardVictoria, BC has lost another pop culture convention, and it’s not due to some fiasco. Earlier this week, Capital City Comic Con announced they are unable to continue putting on future shows and thanked the community for their support. Whatever the reasons are–to which a some Facebook posts asked–they did not disclose.

After attending and taking part in many similiar events in my home city since the 90s, I’m aware of the challenges, hurdles, and problems. In the past, I helped organize the video programming for the video screening rooms, ran role playing game sessions, and even presented a few panels. I know coordinating so everything goes off without a hitch can is not as simple as many may think.

We’re a small city, plain and simple, with perhaps a lower than average percentage who are hard core pop culture enthusiasts. And without the tourism numbers (and dollars) on top, to grow past year three is tough! That’s my theory because the geeky events I’ve attended tend to shut down at or after that cursed numerical count. Gottacon is an exception, and based on what I heard from the grapevine, the move to the Victoria Conference Center led to new difficulties; they eventually folded. Even after many long years as a local fixture, LANtasy, announced their closure.

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Sailing into Danger with Cthulhu’s Reach Devil Reef!

Don’t sail away with me in Cthulhu’s Reach Devil Reef because the eldrich terrors hidden here will drive you insane!

Cthulhu’s Reach Devil Reef Title Card
Act I is available now for $9.99 USD with English language support, and Act II on Steam (PC) Early Access Dec 10, 2024.

Cthulhu’s Reach Devil Reef, the Lovecraftian action-roguelike co-op dungeon crawler from developer The Fine Arc, conjures up a publishing partnership with First Break Labs and crawls into Act II, available on PC via Steam Early Access Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. Hunt down a sweet deal while the game is 15% off in Steam’s Autumn Sale from Nov. 27 to Dec. 4.

Stuck with enormous debt and a greedy gangster to pay off, it’s time to accept misfortune and risk it all to find the hidden treasure of Devil Reef. Travel to the creepy seaside town of Innsmouth and venture deeper and deeper into the daunting unknown, where piles of gold may await… under the watchful eye of lurking eldritch horrors.

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Chatting with Paul McAllister about Monster House Publishing, Their Adorable Mascot Herman & The Future…

The great thing about Monster House Publishing is that they plan on testing the waters with their properties in other media fronts!

McAllister and German Herman Recycles - Monster House Publishing When Monster House Publishing gets to celebrate a milestone of being around for a solid ten years, I’m sure Founder and CEO Paul McAllister could not be any happier. He began this business after getting his first children’s book, There and Back Again, A Herman Tale, published, and realising there are others like him from his home province who love to get their ideas in print. That first challenge is often difficult!

If it had not been for the caring influence of teachers, librarians, family, and a well-timed visit to his elementary school by a local author carrying the message that “Anyone can become an author,” he very well could have slipped through the cracks. For much of his life, his ADHD and dysgraphia was a hurdle, and to see him overcome that to become the success that he is now is encouraging!

Today, Monster House Publishing aims to inspire a love of literacy in children across his home province, throughout Canada, and beyond by bringing fun and engaging stories by Maritime authors and artists to life. I had time to talk to him about how he got started, and where he’s at now since to persevere in today’s publishing climate is tough!

McAllister responded, “New Brunswick is a small province, and it’s a small industry comparatively speaking, and when I reached out to my contacts in the arts that I wanted to publish my story about Herman, I quickly found out that there wasn’t any anglophone children’s publishing company in existence‌ here. So, on a whim, I decided to self-publish. When I was registering the ISBN, through Library and Archives Canada, they asked what publishing company’s name–so right off the top of my head, I said Herman’s Monster House publishing–I made it up right there.

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All Macross All The Time with Macross Frontier Nyan Nyan Greatest☆Hits!

Macross Frontier Nyan Nyan Greatest☆Hits! will be released on Ranka Lee’s Birthday, on April 29, 2025.

Macross Frontier Nyan NyanMacross Frontier is getting a new album. Despite the anime series being off the air, the subsequent movies have kept the love alive, and with Macross Frontier Nyan Nyan Greatest☆Hits album, there’s new tracks! Included are the theme song from the film Labyrinth of Time, “Labyrinth of Time,” “Sacrifice,” and “Good job!”

This release will be available in three editions: a limited-edition “Deculture” boxset, a special-edition, and a standard edition. The limited-edition boxset comes in a memorial box and includes the new album, a bonus drama CD with cover songs, a blu-ray disc, and an acrylic figure. The special-edition comes with the album and bonus drama CD in a decorative case.

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From Night of the Blood Beast, just what will Attack of the Giant Leeches Feast on? And a Future connection…

Could there be a connection with the types of scares made with Creepy Bits and Corman? Probably not with Night of the Blood Beast, but for the second film, read on to find out!

Night of the Blood Beast Blu-ray Release
Available to purchase on Amazon USA

The Film Masters latest double-feature is showing what producer Roger Corman loves about horrors from space and undersea. In Night of the Blood Beast (1958), humanity has to face off against some alien parasite that’s reanimated a dead astronaut. This pilot was aware something hit his craft, but when he aborted the flight, little did he know he had a rider back to earth!

I like to think of this film as a precursor to the way the 94 Spider-Man animated series introduced Venom. The tales are wildly different, but I couldn’t get that image off my mind! As for what’s special about this release is that it’s the most ‘complete’ of the releases. This includes the Mystery Science Theatre 3K episode where this film gets riffed upon. It’s a nice add-on for fans of this series. 

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Night of the Zoopocalypse! All Is Not Well When Zombies Invade!

Humour and zombies are abound in this sneak preview of Night of the Zoopocalypse! So where are the Penguins?

Night of the ZoopocalypseRelease Date: March 7, 2025

These days, it’s very rare to hear about what Clive Barker is up to, and I’m certainly glad he’s not retired. And although his attempts to get some of his stories animated has been tough (I remember hearing about failing to get Thief of Always made a long time ago), it seems Viva Pictures have done what others could not move forward! Night of the Zoopocalypse is a story concept this author pitched some time ago, and the casting and trailer look awesome!

The art style reminds me of Illumination Pictures’ work (I see a lot of Scrat in it), and I fully expected the Jaws homage. As for whether this work will carry some of that dark edge Barker is famous for, hopefully this film will balance what’s needed to make this work accessible for all ages.

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